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			Packard: First Automobile to Conquer the Nevada Desert
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				Tom Fetch (left) and N.O. Allyn with 1903 Model F Packard "Old Pacific" east of Wadsworth Nevada June 1903. They have just extricated themselves from deep sand by driving over a 20 ft length of canvas seem behind them Packard's arch rival Alexander Winton had thrown in the towel in his attempt to be the first to cross the continent by automobile 2 years before in similiar circumstances east of Mill City, Nevada. Tom Fetch collection
	The Packard motor car was born into a rivalry with Alexander Winton, the first producer of more than 100 cars. James Ward Packard took delivery of WInton's 13th automobile on August 13, 1898 and broke down on the 65 mile drive home. Over the next year Packard continued to have problems and WInton became exasperated with Packard's unwelcome suggestions for improvements. Finally Winton blurted out, "well if you are so smart, maybe you can build a better machine yourself!" Packard took up the challenge and built his first car in 1899. In 1901 Winton personally attempted to be the first to drive an auto across the continent, but after overcoming snowdrifts in the Sierra, a broken front spring, broken crankshaft, and thunderstorms he finally gave up after his auto became stuck in deep sand between Lovelock and Winnemucca, Nevada. Winton was quoted by the Silver State reporter in Winnemucca: "It is absolutely impossible for an automobile to cross the stretches of sand on the deserts of Nevada". In 1903 the Packard brothers had largely ceded control of their Warren, Ohio company to bring in the capital needed for expansion and operations were to be transferred to a new factory in Detroit. Probably as a last hurrah for the original single cylinder Ohio built Packards, a 1903 Packard was dispatched to cross the Continent, succeeding where Winton had failed.
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